Canadian Ambassador Denis Kingsley ... rocks to Bob Marley and Dennis Brown. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

Words have never posed a problem for Denis Kingsley. Whether it is in English, French or Spanish, he uses them in his job as Canadian ambassador to Jamaica.

However, his work didn't always centre around words. When he was an accountant, numbers were king.

Kingsley is on his first diplo-matic assignment. Originally from Ottawa (in the province of Ontario) he soaked up that city's bilingual culture, learning to speak English, his second language, at an early age. With a population of approximately 1.2 million the culturally rich city has a high standard of living and more engineers, scientists and PhDs per capita than any other Canadian city.

During his tenure, Ambassador Kingsley hopes to encourage skilled Jamaicans to find work in Canada and encourage Canadian companies to invest in Jamaica.

On the lighter side, he thinks ackee and saltfish is too big a meal for breakfast but he has carefully selected the country's 'best' jerked chicken spots.

Kingsley is married to Jo-Ann who he says is a regular shopper at Coronation Market. They have two daughters who are studying in Canada.

Sacha Walters: Could you tell me a little more about what it was like growing up in Ottawa?

Denis Kingsley: Well, I come from a French-Canadian family. There were seven kids. I wouldn't say we were poor but we definitely weren't rich. My father, he was an electrician, my mother was a stay at home mom and they pushed us to go to university. My father was really pushing for us to go to university and out of the seven, five of us went to university. He was very proud of that.

English is not your first language, French is. Did you have any difficulties with languages while growing up?

I was born and raised in Ottawa which is in Ontario. Ontario has French schools and English schools. If you go to a French school you take the same English courses as the English schools. Like, I studied Shakespeare, Beau Wolf but at the same time I studied the French ones. The difference was when I took my geography class it was in French, when I took my math class it was in French. So that's the difference between the two schools but my basic operating language was French.

What do you think of Jamaica so far?

Jamaica is a beautiful country and I think what we've found is that we've been accepted very easily. Canada and Jamaica have a great relationship; there are close to 200,000 Jamaicans living in Canada. Everybody has a good opinion of us so it made it so very easy for us to transition.

Do you have any favourite places?

We've been around the whole island. I've been to Accompong, last year. I've been to Boston Beach. I've been to the Cove, Negril. Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Little Oche, Mandeville. To say that there is one that I prefer more than the other I wouldn't say there is. Whenever I go to Ocho Rios where they have all those jerk chicken places, I just love stopping there. Here in Kingston, I go to Chelsea (Jerk Centre).

Are there any negatives to Jamaica?

It's kinda hard to talk about the negative things. I tell you, the traffic situation is really terrible. That's the one I'll put out there as being a negative that everybody will share with me so I think that's an issue, questionable planning. I've been known to talk a little about the crime and the violence, and some of the corruption and I think that is a shame. It's a shame that a beautiful country like this has that situation, and I'm having a difficult time grasping what is causing a lot of it.

Those would be the main negatives.

What would be some of the changes that you would make?

I think Jamaica is making the changes, I really do. I've looked at what the prime minister is doing now. Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, a friend of mine, setting up his police commissioner's office. I think the steps are being taken and I think the best thing Canada can do is support you.

Do you like sports?

I find that sports is a good way to entertain yourself but to say that

I'm an avid sports fan that just eats it up, no. But I will watch a good hockey game, and I mean ice hockey. I've gone to one cricket match here and I find it's not bad.

What do you do for entertainment?

I enjoy all kinds of music now, it was hard rock when I was younger. I grew up in the '70s, so I used to listen to Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and all those things but now I've mellowed out with time and I enjoy every kind of music except the real twangy country music. Reggae music now, I listen to Dennis Brown, he is really good. Kinda Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, I'm not sure which one I prefer to tell you the truth. Movies, I love a good comedy.

Who's your favourite actor?

I don't think I have a favourite actor but good comedians, all of them are Canadians, you know that? Mike Myers is Canadian, Jim Carrey is Canadian, John Candy was Canadian. We like to play hockey but we also like to laugh.

SACHA WALTERS

Ottawa trivia

It is the second largest city (behind Toronto) in Ontario.

Most residents are of French descent.

There are six colleges and universities in Ottawa.

Because of its vibrant high-tech industry, Ottawa is usually referred to as 'Silicon Valley North'.